Description
Object description
Australian private served with 2/4th Machine Gun Bn Australian Imperial Force in Singapore, 1942; POW on Burma-Thailand Railway and in Indo-China, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Australia, 1919-1939: family; childhood in Kalgoorlie; death of father; education; employment; effects of Depression on daily life in Kalgoorlie; sporting activities; Boy Scouts; attitude to British Empire; memories of Anzac Day celebrations; attitude to possibility of war; story of volunteering for military service and being called up, 1940.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of training with B Coy, 2/4th Machine Gun Bn in Australia, 1940-1941: description of basic training; reaction to Dunkirk evacuation, 5/1940; use of equipment and weapons from First World War; opinion of German armed forces; route marches from Woodside camp; opinion of CO Colonel Anketell; parades; played with battalion football team; comradeship; story of journey to Darwin; description of camp; opinion of Japanese; reaction to attack on Pearl Harbour, 7/Dec/1941.
REEL 3 Continues: attitude to advance of Japanese forces; memories of Christmas, 1941. Aspects of voyage aboard Aquitania to Singapore, 1/1942: awareness of situation in Singapore; leave in Sydney; story of going AWOL in Fremantle; conditions aboard Aquitania.
REEL 4 Continues: transferred to Dutch cargo ship and opinion of conditions; disembarked in Singapore. Aspects of operations with 2/4th Machine Gun Bn Australian Imperial Force in Singapore, 1-2/1942: posted to Woodlands camp; opinion of equipment; accommodation; Japanese air attacks; arrival of British forces; problem of lack of equipment and ammunition; description of blowing up of Causeway, 31/Jan/1942; opinion of senior officers; location of B Coy 2/4th Bn on Causeway; field of fire; description of Japanese positions across Straits of Johore.
REEL 5 Continues: question of firing on Japanese positions; Japanese artillery fire on Australian positions; weapons pits; description of firing on Japanese troops during landings; firing platforms for machine guns; distribution of other machine gun companies; location of platoon attached to 2/26th Bn; casualties; problem with spring on machine gun; reaction to being under fire; description of withdrawal on trucks; problem of lack of ammunition; opinion of organisation of retreat.
REEL 6 Continues: attitude to situation in Singapore; opinion of NCOs; comparison of effectiveness of Allied and Japanese forces; rejoined 2/4th Bn in Botanic Gardens, Singapore, 14/Feb/1942; rations and water supplies; story of commandeering supplies from ordnance depot; reaction to surrender to Japanese, 15/Jan/1942; opinion of Japanese troops.
REEL 7 Continues: Aspects of period as POW in Singapore, Feb/1942-3/1943: marched to assembly point and surrendered weapons; marched to Selerang Barracks, Changi Prison; memories of Chinese heads on poles; opinion of treatment by Japanese guards; accommodation; water supplies; latrines; opinion of food; attitude to being POW; medical facilities; opinion of Regimental Medical Officer Claude Anderson; working parties; question of escape.
REEL 8 Continues: further comments on food; availability of tobacco; maintenance of army discipline; personal appearance; parades; story of parading for General Yamashita; opinion of Churchill; daily routine; work collecting wood for fuel; use of sea water; recreational and educational activities; description of work at Adam Park including building shrine for Japanese.
REEL 9 Continues: attitude to working for Japanese; supplementing rations; pay; bartering with local civilians; relocation of civilian and military prisoners; clothing and footwear; story of Red Cross parcels; relations with Japanese guards; bartering; disappearance of guards for three weeks; communication with home; various stories of thefts by POWs; opinion of Korean guards.
REEL 10 Continues: opinion of conditions in Selerang Barracks; morale; awareness of progress of war; memories of Christmas, 1942; state of health; story of being selected to work on Burma-Thailand Railway, 3/1943. Aspects of period as POW on Burma-Thailand Railway, 3/1943-1945: assigned to D Force; description of train journey to Kanburi; conditions in camp; food; marched to Tarso; description of work building cuttings at Hintok camp; problem of malaria and dysentery among POWs; daily routine and working conditions; digging embankments; opinion of Japanese Army tools.
REEL 11 Continues: felling trees and carrying timber; use of elephants; drilling rock; working hours; ulcers and treatment including amputations; daily routine; contracted malaria and dysentery; description of hospital; problem of cutting bamboo; opinion of doctors; treatment at hospital camp; condition of other patients; opinion of Japanese military discipline; relations with guards; role of medical officers; story of Dutch POW; outbreaks of cholera.
REEL 12 Continues: treatment for cholera; climate; problem of obtaining clean water; attitude to survival; death rate among POWs; importance of comradeship; organisation of food supplies; morale among POWs; types of punishments; description of bridge; further memories of hospital camp. REEL 13 Continues: rail transportation to Burma; sporting activities; nature of work; relations with British troops; opinion of Colonel Toosey; attitude to Allied air raids on railway; clandestine radios; story of Kempetai officer; food; communication with home; lack of adequate clothing and footwear; returned to Changi, 9/1944. Aspects of period as POW in Indo-China, 1/-8/1945: description of voyage to Indo-China, 1/1945; sailed up river to Saigon; worked on aerodrome at Bien Hoa.
REEL 14 Continues: reason for enlisting; attitude to loss of friends on Burma-Thailand Railway; personal hygiene; story of train being bombed; summary of movements and camps; description of work on aerodrome in mountains; story of Red Cross parcels; Allied air raids; living conditions; problem of recurring malaria; relations with guards; returned to Saigon. REEL 15 Continues: reaction to dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, 8/1945; camp abandoned by guards; supply drops; memories of visits to Saigon; celebrations at end of war; camp taken over by Gurkhas; relations with French civilians; story of repatriation and return to Australia via Thailand and Singapore.
REEL 16 Continues: memory of arrival in Sidney, Australia; question of adjustment to civilian life; discharged from army, 4/1946. Post-war life and employment in Australia: effect of wartime experiences on life; sporting activities; reflections on wartime experiences.
REEL 17 Continues: further reflections on wartime experiences.